United they stand

Apr 9 2008 David Williamson, Western Mail

The One Wales coalition governing the country affirmed yesterday how they would deliver.

LABOUR First Minister Rhodri Morgan and Plaid Cymru’s Ieuan Wyn Jones were singing from the same hymn sheet yesterday as they insisted their coalition government was on track.

Sitting beside each other in the first press conference since the Assembly broke up for the Easter recess, the two men listed their priorities for the Government.

Mr Morgan declared, “It’s a coalition but it’s one administration.”

He said over the next 12 months key policies would include:

- The implementation of a new approach to NHS reconfiguration;

- a cervical cancer vaccine scheme;

- an increase in funding to support social housing;

- a “radical” reduction in class sizes for three to seven-year-olds;

- the linking-up of cycle routes on an all-Wales basis;

- and investment in community transport and the establishment of 20mph zones around schools.

Highlights for the 12 months for the Deputy First Minister include:

- The creation of a federal college to provide Welsh-language provision at a university level;

- grants for first-time buyers;

- a refugee inclusion strategy which will particularly focus on children;

- the launch of credit unions throughout Wales;

- improving targets for recycling;

- free entry for pensioners and children to publicly funded heritage sites;

- the establishment of the All-Wales Convention on further powers for the Assembly;

- and the setting-up of a commission to review the Assembly’s funding and finance.

The Assembly Government has published a delivery plan to demonstrate the progress it is making on 228 separate policy commitments.

This was immediately condemned as “window-dressing” by Nick Bourne, the Conservative leader of the Opposition in the Assembly.

He said: “Yet more glossy propaganda at our expense. This so-called plan of action published today is yet more window dressing from a government obsessed with presentation and spin, but which lacks substance and action.”

But the First Minister said: “It’s about being transparent. It’s about how we improve the lives of the people of Wales.”

The Deputy First Minister added, “This is the way those items we agreed as a coalition be delivered.”

The document provides details on the Plaid flagship policy of providing laptops for schoolchildren. A pilot scheme will be launched in 2009-10.

It also states that a “number of possibilities” are being considered about providing grants for first-time buyers.

The two men acknowledged the turbulence in the housing market and the shrinking availability of mortgages.

Mr Jones said: “What we are seeking to do is look for innovative ways to introduce into the marketplace social housing and affordable housing which in, anyone’s language, is desperately needed.”

He also affirmed that if the All-Wales Convention reported positive support for a referendum on the creation of a Welsh Parliament he would back a vote being held before the next Assembly elections.

He said: “If that public support is there we’ll go before 2011; if not, we won’t.”

Each party leader appeared upbeat, with the First Minister paying tribute to Cardiff City’s 1-0 semi-final victory against Barnsley on Sunday.

He said: “Does this raise Wales’ profile? Does it reach out to the parts the Grand Slam couldn’t reach? I believe it does.”

Mr Morgan defended the decision, announced last week, to cut the number of Local Health Boards from 22 to eight.

He said: “LHBs are being merged and their function is changing in terms of commissioning because we’re getting rid of the internal market... It’s not a catastrophic change but we are making significant changes.”

But the Conservatives’ Mr Bourne said, “The idea this isn’t a significant U-turn flies in the face of the truth.”

He accused the two parties of failing to deliver for Wales.

“I said at the start of the year that 2008 must be a year of delivery for the Labour- Plaid Government,” he said.

“We are already into April and the administration is only now getting round to thinking about putting its ideas into action.

“In those wasted weeks we have had policy U-turns and indecision, dithering and empty sound bites.”

But Mr Jones insisted the parties were in the process of turning the pledges in the One Wales document into reality.

He anticipated that the commission to investigate the financing of the Assembly could report before the next election.

The publication also reaffirms a commitment to support the case for a St David’s Day Bank Holiday – but adds this “will need to be established on the basis of an additional, not replacement, bank holiday”.

Mr Morgan confirmed that on his recent visit to China to meet officials in Chongqing, twinned with Wales, he did not discuss human rights in Tibet.

He said: “I was 1,000 miles away from Beijing.

“There was nobody there who would have had any influence over Tibet or on other foreign policy issues.”

Page 2 - ...but they’re two very different political animals